


He knew not about this hidden past

by HedwigHereswitha



Series: Obsessed with a student - Snape [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dubious Consent, F/M, Many implied horrors, Mentions of Battle of Hogwarts, Mentions of Rape, Underage - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-14
Updated: 2014-05-14
Packaged: 2018-01-24 19:54:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1615124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HedwigHereswitha/pseuds/HedwigHereswitha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When someone who looks just like Snape appears, Luna and Harry have a conversation.  </p><p>Dark, twisted, short and sweet.Beware of all the warnings and tags</p>
            </blockquote>





	He knew not about this hidden past

**Author's Note:**

> Because it did not exist yet and I wrote it. HP world needs more student fics. Disclaimer: I don't own HP rights. I do like cookies.

  
The room was filled with a warm-light as Harry Potter nipped from his glass of muggle-wine and watched Luna, who sat in the chair opposite of him. She had barely touched her glass of juice which was an indication that she was very excited about something. It figured, Harry thought, for though he often was in contact with Luna it was usually a communication by owls. Only the exceptional occasions brought the wizarding naturalist over to his house. Parties, weddings, the finding of a new species or this; whatever it was. Luna was bubbling with an uncontainable excitement.

“How’s the new job going? Is it to your likening?”

She nodded her head eagerly as a reply. “More than to my likening. Though I don’t think I will stay. You know what they say. Things that stay get rusty after some time. I’m not eager to rusty yet. I prefer to be bendable.”

“Right.” Harry was almost sorry he asked. “So is it still like when we were there?”

“No.” Luna shook her head. “Hogwarts doesn’t feel like it did back in our days. The school’s much safer now, and many of the old ghosts have deserted the place.”

Harry cocked his head. “Why’s that?” He wondered loudly.

“I don’t know. Perhaps they’re just on their holiday. Who can say?” By the gleam in Luna’s eyes Harry could tell that this small-chat wasn’t what she had come for. Though her true purpose remained a mystery to him – despite the many letters she had sent him in advance which were all about her adventures back at Hogwarts. Luna had been asked to temporarily replace one of the professors who was pregnant and who was now away on maternity leave. Since Luna had said yes she was now teaching the higher classes in Hogwarts and had become such a popular teacher that she was even asked to figure as a substitute for other courses as well. She was working full hours instead of the part time function she’d agreed to but she loved it- for now.

“So you’re not thinking of staying?” Harry’s voice broke her thoughts and she blinked at him and then hummed. Harry got the hint. She’d been with her head elsewhere - and he wondered if elsewhere was a place with nargles. “So you’re not staying at Hogwarts as a teacher after this? You’re not considering to be a proper professor?” She shook her head. “The kids love you.”

Luna laughed. “It’s funny, isn’t it?” Her dreamy voice rang. “They really do enjoy my lessons. And whenever I find my shoes somewhere up at the ceiling it brings back old times, but it rarely happens anymore. If someone tries to pull a trick on me there are always students standing up for me to protect me. It’s like the world has reversed.”

“That’s why I said,” Harry sipped from his glass, “why not stay? It sounds idyllic.”

He had expected for Luna to laugh again but her expression had darkened and she looked at her hands. Her voice dwindled to a whisper. “There are some students who have caught my attention in specific. Remember I wrote about a brother and sister I have in class.”

Harry frowned. She had – very unprofessionally- mentioned several students in her letters and he did not know which ones she had meant. “I think so?” He tried.

“Oh, come on, Harry. It’s about the boy Sulpicius. I have him in class almost every day. His sister is a class below him, Aurora. They have another sister at school but I don’t have to teach her class, unfortunately.”

“Why, what’s so important about them?”

Luna reached inside her sleeve and pulled out a moving photograph. It showed a classroom with a modern white-wall; very clean and neat. In front of it were a few students who only became aware of being photographed while the photo was already being taken. They looked into the camera confused and guilty. Harry bent forward and steadied his glasses. “Uncanny.” He said at the resemblance of one specific Hufflepuff boy. Then he started to laugh loudly.

“If Professor Snape had still been alive he would have been abhorred. Really? That boy’s looks….” He found it hard to speak and kept laughing in between sentences. “He’s like the professor himself. But Hufflepuff, really?”

“It’s his mother’s house. Don’t be rude.” Luna informed him, but still Harry couldn’t keep from laughing loudly. He only shushed when he heard noises from the room adjacent and realized his laughing was going to wake up his three-year old son Albus which would initiate the cries of his younger sister and the irritation of James. Harry quickly covered his mouth with his hands and for a moment wished that Ginny wasn’t on a girl’s night out so she could shush their children.

After a moment of silence Harry concluded that the children would not wake up screaming and crying, and he turned his attention back to a patiently waiting Luna.

“Luna. This is lunacy. Why are you showing me this?”  
Luna whispered to him. “You see it too, don’t you? For some time I suspected something and I wondered why no one else in school has commented on it. The boy’s name reminds a bit of his, but it’s still distinctively different. As is his surname. I thought I must be mistaking. So I did a little detective-work. His family-name is Secundinus.”

“An S and S alliteration. Very suspicious indeed.” Harry teased, but at the same time he felt something pull at his heart. It was a tiny feeling that started to gnaw on him. ‘What if’, it said.

“Well, “ Luna wasn’t exactly whispering anymore now. She licked her lips before continuing. “I found a few files concerning their family history and they’re very peculiar. It seems that their family name is a recent addition and might have been changed right after, or during the war. I also found out that there’s been DNA tests and that Sulpicius and his sister Aurora are both from a different father than their other siblings. The documents also stated that the new father had accepted them as if they were children of his own and his will requests they’d be treated as such. Now, it gets even better. Their mother’s records have been meddled with. It shows she’s been at Hogwarts with us! But she disappeared during the war and any files considering her disappearance are filled with question marks. ”

Harry blinked. “She was missing? You think she worked along with Snape?”

“Harry, get a grip.” Luna scolded him. She was clearly enjoying this new-found knowledge which she was sharing with him. “His mother was at Hogwarts with us. In Hufflepuff. One year below me and two years below you.” She almost stared him down as the information was being processed inside his head. Harry looked dumbfounded once it had registered.

“She was someone we might have known?”

“Harry!” Luna yelped.

He shook his head. “But Professor Snape was our teacher…. You’re saying she was below us? You’re saying she’s younger than us?”

Luna nodded and skipped ahead with the details. “Sulpicius, a very clever and silent boy. He often likes to sit detached from others, stares at his hands a lot, writes nifty notes in every schoolbook and tries out his own crafted spells. I already thought he looks almost identical to him.”

She eyed Harry. “We discussed genealogy before and he was very adamant that his family’s history was an interesting one albeit one I wasn’t allowed to see. I thought it was weird. You know, everyone handed in an essay no matter what their parents had done during the war or what side they’d been on….. But he refused to hand in a single thing. So…I invited his parents for a talk and this time his stepfather had come along. I tried to extract information out of them. Usually the mother appears alone but she was really worried and finally brought her husband along.”

She licked her lips. “But it was only last Monday when we discussed history and something odd happened.” Her dreamy voice had returned. “The children discussed the war when Sulpicius suddenly got very angry. He even hit the table with his fists and shouted that Snape was a war-hero, not a murderer. You know how many still believe that Dumbledore’s death is proof for Snape’s guilt. Harry?” Luna blinked up at him. “Harry, this is really interesting. The boy confessed to me he’s actually Snape’s son. “

Harry’s jaw dropped. “But that’s impossible.”

“I know your world may very well wobble and seem to be on the verge of crumbling-” Luna started, but she did not get the chance to finish her reassuring words.

“Thank you for stating it as picturesque as only a Ravenclaw can.” Harry butted in. Luna seemed to be unfazed by his remark and simply offered him a gentle smile.

“I just can’t believe that Snape would have hidden a child from us, let alone two!

Luna hummed thoughtfully. “Yes, it is quite a mystery. You know, even before the boy confessed I already had my suspicions and when I talked to his parents last Tuesday I tried to play the ‘I-know-your secret-card.”

Harry looked at Luna as if he couldn’t believe his ears. “Luna? First the detective role and then playing it dirty like this?” He grinned. “I had not expected it from you.”

“Well, Lysander didn’t expect me to give him twins either.” Luna replied in her usual dreamy voice. Just the pure fact she sounded so calm about it made Harry cough with laughter.

“What did you do?” He asked her.

“Well, I simply said that I knew about their past.” She said in her sing-song voice. Then she leant forward and her expression became grim and serious. She twisted her voice.

“ ‘Listen up’, I said. ‘Your son snapped in class last Monday. He said that his father had been fighting in the war. ‘ And at this point I looked directly at the stepfather, but he shook his head, feigning disbelief, and denied he had any connections to the war at all. The mother’s expression gave away nothing either; though her eyes spelled ‘sadness’. ”

Luna leant back again and toyed with her fingers. Her grey eyes never left Harry’s face as she scrutinized him for his reaction.

“I said: ‘No, I think he meant his biological father whom I believe we all know is now dead.’ They turned pale, I tell you. ‘He told me of his father: the late Severus Snape.’ After that they had to admit. They pleaded me not to make it an all-known fact. Snape still has a rather dark reputation among the crowd. Many people still won’t believe that he’s been fighting for the good guys.” When Harry remained silent, with a pensive look and his gaze fixed in front of him, Luna quickly said: “That’s you, Harry.”

“I know who the good guys were, Luna.” The man snapped back at her. “I just still can’t fathom that a man who tried hard to save me, a man who loved my mother, a man I named my child after- for Merlin’s sake- how such a man can have children of his own running around Hogwarts with no one knowing.”

Luna reached for his hand and took it in her own. “Perhaps because if people did know the good name we wish for him to have might be turned to ashes before it has reached every wizard’s ear.”

Harry looked up at Luna, bothered, and frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

The woman sighed. “Harry, we try very hard to have people see professor Snape as a hero. Would a secret like this help us build that reputation for him?”

Harry blinked at her.

“The answer is no, Harry.” Luna urged. “They’d compare it to deeds such as him killing Dumbledore.”

“But wait, he did not kill the girl, did he?” Harry quickly said.

“No, but I doubt kidnapping and rape would work out well on his list.”

“What?”

“Think about it, Harry. Sulpicius is almost eighteen. The war didn’t end till fourteen years ago. He must have been three when Snape was murdered. That, plus it’s quite clear his slightly younger sister must have been born before the end of the war too. They hardly differ a year. Harry, There’s no doubt that Sulpicius and his sister Aurora were both born when Snape was still alive.”

“And when their mother was only…..” Harry held a hand up to his head as he started counting back. She was two years his junior. The thought suddenly frightened him.

“Exactly.” Luna said as she once again placed a hand on his arm to comfort him. “Too young to be legally bonded to a man of his age and disposition.”

“I don’t understand. Something must be wrong. Luna, are you sure about this?” He asked her, still not believing what math told him. She merely nodded. “But then how? When? Why? I have so many questions to ask them. To ask him. And what about the mother? I must recognize her, mustn’t I?” He frowned. “Or perhaps I mustn’t…. There are always so many faces… I should make a call and make an arrangement.”

“There’s no need, Harry. I’ve already arranged an appointment with his parents. They’ll be here in less than thirty minutes.”

“You’ve arranged it?” Harry hugged Luna tightly and for a moment tried to forget what she’d just told him. It was too much and he was slowly starting to feel contempt for the man he’d been calling his hero for the past fourteen years.

“I have asked him, you know.” Luna said after Harry had let go of her and after she’d finally drank from her juice. “Professor Snape. You know the painting back at Hogwarts.”

“Yes, I regularly visit it.” Harry said, his voice becoming bitter as he spoke. “Or visited, I should say. He did not mind it when I asked him if he was okay with my son being named after him.” He turned away from Luna and snarled at the ground instead. The idea was suddenly absurd. That he had named his son after a murdered and a rapist. If that truly was what Snape was.

“Don’t sound so cold.” Luna took a step closer to him. “He stepped out of his frame and would not see me when I asked him about it. But I think I did hear sniffing. I think he was crying where I couldn’t see.” Her eyes darted to the ground but not with Harry’s cruel intent. She looked at it more sad and fondly.

“He was emotional when I told him… when I asked him if I could name my son after him. He was emotional. But I thought it was because he had left life and I had honoured him. Perhaps I was wrong.” He hung his head. The cruelness had dissipated from his eyes.

“Perhaps he was grieving for losing his son.”

“Do you think the boy has visited him? Do you think Sul-whatever his name was has been visiting his father?” The words still felt odd, Harry noted. Snape and Father could not fit in one sentence. Not in his opinion, for he had never considered it.

“I would not know. Though I would not put it past him.” Luna stretched her arms and circled around Harry before tracing back to her chair. “He seems to glorify his father a lot. We’ve spoken shortly and he could only say good things about him. For that I’m glad. The boy could not possibly remember him. He’d been too young.”

For a moment silence reigned as both Harry and Luna had sat down and made it a task to empty their glasses. Finally, Harry raised his empty wineglass and cleared his throat.

“So…. The parents. A mysteriously missing girl and a kind man who took in the children of another.”

Luna grimaced. “I would not put it like that, Harry. From what I know the younger sister was born during or right at the end of the war….”

“Which younger sister?” Harry wanted to know, his anger rising again.

“Restituta. She’s almost a year younger than Aurora and was born exactly near the end of the war. But her DNA doesn’t match that of Sulpicius or Aruora. It matches that of the father you’re going to see. Which means that Mister Secundinus already knew their mother. Harry, I think he might have been a Death Eater who changed identities and tries to hide from his impending punishment.”

Harry fell silent at that. Not much talk was exchanged after Luna’s final revelation.

True to her word, the parents of the boy arrived on time and Harry was shocked at what he saw. The mother wasn’t only younger in years than him, but she looked like she could still be a high-school girl herself. The father, however, looked worn and had definitely passed his forties which unnerved Harry and made him feel slightly sick.

He began to fear that Luna was right, as always. The man had tried to dress nicely and he was wearing respectable glasses. His manners were all right but his accent screamed cockney. There was also a rather odd streak in his hair of a red hue. The man’s blue eyes came to rest on him as he voice his worry.

“Now, you wanted to talk to us, I ‘ear. I’m terribly sorry our boy ‘as been causing such a row. If this is about the past then I beg of you not to let it become common knowledge. The boy’s ‘eritage could mean the end of ‘im. We want ‘im to grow up safe and without troubles from the past.” The man folded his hands, then reached for the hand of the small girl by his side. Harry still couldn’t believe this girl was actually the mother of so many children.

“Right,” There was hesitation in Harry’s voice and he glanced up at Luna. “Well, that is indeed why we called you here. As an Auror and as a man who has been intimately involved in this war case I find it my duty to protect you and your son.” That came out rather smoothly, he thought, and a smug smile crept on his face. He could feel Luna’s gaze intensify.

“Your son has proclaimed that he is actually the son of a man who sacrificed his life for me. That’s why I am keen to know if this is true. And if it is, why I didn’t know any sooner.” His eyes darted to the closed door behind which his children were sleeping. It happened subconsciously.

“It’s true.” Mr Secundinus sighed and tried to concentrate on finding the right words and courage to confess. It had been a secret for over fourteen years. But if he didn’t come clean to Harry Potter and the temp-teacher now things might end badly for his family. He knew that, and that was why he had decided to come and to confess.

“Snape’s the biological father of out two eldest: Sulpicius and Aurora. ‘e even gave ‘em their names.” His breath had become uneven and he glanced at his wife. “You don’t ‘ave to ‘ear, love. If you don’t want to.”

Harry exchanged a brief yet meaningful look with Luna. Mrs Secundinus shook her head and whispered that she would stay put and support him. This made the man relax visible.

“So Snape was alive when they were born.” Harry stated matter-of-factly.

“Yes, anyone could ‘ave done that math.” Mr Secundinus said through gritted teeth. “Which also makes it easy to calculate what that means.”

Harry closed his eyes and rubbed his temples for dramatic elegance. “Am I to believe that your wife was still at Hogwarts school when this happened?” His eyes flew open again and he looked at the parents intensely.

“Would that she was at school.” Mr Secundinus grinned. “My wife never quite finished ‘er education at ‘Ogwarts. Perhaps you remember ‘er?”

Both Harry and Luna were studying the girls with scrunched eyes. They found it hard to recall the girl and eventually Harry shook his head and apologized politely.

“No, of course it’s ‘ard to remember the face of a teenage girl who went missing in ‘er second year.”

Harry swallowed audibly. This could just not be true.

“If she went missing then someone would have known.” He tried. He wanted to have this issue clarified. “The Headmaster would have send out a notice and her absence would have to be explained to her classmates.”

Mr Secundinus waved his hand through the air and by doing so waved Harry’s words away. “Yes, such a thing ought to ‘ave ‘appened, wouldn’t you think? Unless the ‘eadmaster would ‘ave ‘ad a ‘and in it.”

This revelation made Harry’s world quake and Luna’s jaw drop. “Albus?” Luna exclaimed. “He was a kind man.”

“There must be some mistake. Your words don’t ring true.” Harry said. He was quick on the draw and had his wand pointed at the man in seconds. His face was all earnest and firm. “I think you’re lying.”

“Albus Dumbledore gave ‘is best spy a present and at the same time ensured that the line of Snape would not be extinct.” Mr Secundinus spoke up, his hands were in the air in a sign of surrender. “It’s the truth, ‘onest.”

“He knew.” Mrs Secundinus suddenly piped in, though her voice could have been equal to Luna’s dreamy whispers. “Let me tell.”

She shifted in her seat, but Harry and Luna agreed to listen to her though they still could not believe what had been said. It sounded out of character for both Snape and Dumbledore and they could not fathom why any of it had been done.

But Mrs Secundinus could tell them. “When I came to Hogwarts I thought it would be like any type of school. I wanted to learn, I wanted to become wise. I hardly paid attention to making friends or going along with fashion. In that respect it was quite a good choice of the hat to place me in Hufflepuff. I was young and naïve. I didn’t know how the professor was watching me, craving me. I did not know until he told me, later, when he ravished me in the hallway or after class. He had not wanted to. He could have constrained himself, but Albus Dumbledore had given me to him and had ordered for him to give into his lust. So he did.”

Harry shivered. The room suddenly felt cold. “That sounds like Snape. Obeying orders.” He remarked dryly.

Mrs Secundinus nervously glanced at Luna and after receiving a comforting smile she grasped her husband’s hand and continued her tale. “Yes, that was Severus Snape. He obeyed orders of both sides. He trusted Dumbledore. He knew that somehow Dumbledore was the key to everything. Dumbledore knew everything. Snape trusted him in that. That’s why he let Dumbledore tell him to take me to his home, to lock me away from the eyes of the world. That’s why he accepted me as a ‘gift.” The girl nearly spat the word, but any disdain was not heard when she spoke of Severus. It was nearly loving, the way she told the tale. It was confusing Harry greatly.

“But how could they cover this up? And was it truly kidnapping? I mean, it was but was it uh- you-know.” His eyes hardened. “Rape?”

“Dumbledore told the class that I’d gone home because I’d fallen ill. I was though: morning-illness.” The woman smiled wryly at this. “He told my parents that I was not to be found and that he had arranged a search-party. He eventually managed to twist the tale and make them a deal so my family wouldn’t call the papers. He showed them around Hogwarts-“Here emotions started to un high and Mrs Secundinus could not stop the tears to flow down her cheeks. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s all very emotional for ‘er.” Her husband said as he gently started to stroke her back. “Long story short; Dumbledore convinced ‘er parents that she was a ‘ostage by the Dark Lord and part of a secret plot, and that making ‘er absence and situation known in public would jeopardize ‘er life. My love ‘asn’t seen ‘er family until after the war.” The man paused. “So yes, it was kidnap and it was rape. But in the end she loved ‘im.”

“I still don’t understand.” Harry said.

“Albus Dumbledore knew that he would die.” Mrs Secundinus sniffed. “It’s why he could order for Severus to murder him. One day he came home. He held me locked up in one of the lower areas of the house. His magic kept me restrained. He showed up, all dishevelled, and cried in my arms for hours because Dumbledore had ordered him to kill him before Draco would get the chance to do it. I didn’t know this Draco, but I did know that he needed to be protected and that Severus played a big part in the boy’s life. He had vouched himself to protect a lot of people, you and me included.” She locked eyes with Harry. “He was devastated. In the end we found out Dumbledore had known what was to happen all along. He even knew how Severus was to die. I gave him something special to protect him, but he didn’t use it.” Here she cried again, even after fourteen years the emotions still felt fresh like it had only been yesterday. The dread for his death, the sadness for his passing and the anger for her failure. How could he not have used her gift?

“You knew he was going to die?” Harry asked her, and she nodded.

“She’s not ‘ad proper education,” Her husband said, “but Severus taught her a lot of things about magic in ‘is spare time. ‘E gave ‘er tools to craft and she taught ‘erself ‘ow to make wands. She’s good at it too, you know. We ‘ad to keep ‘er hidden from the Dark Lord or ‘e would ‘ave abused ‘er skills and ‘e would ‘ave wiped you out.” He told Harry, who now stared at him with huge eyes.

“I made Severus a wand and hoped he would carry it with him that day.” Mrs Secundinus glanced down at her hands in order to avoid looking into anyone’s eyes. She did not dare tell them that she had found Snape afterwards and had shaken his shoulders, hoping against hope that he had been carrying the wand and had used it. But the wand was left on his desk in Hogwarts. It hung even as they spoke underneath his portrait on display. Her son and daughter had seen it, but she had not seen the wand ever since she’d tucked it inside Snape’s case before he went back to school, knowing he would have to fight for his life.

Mr Secundinus squeezed her hand and looked compassionately at her. He too did not make mention of having witnessed Snape missing the specially crafted wand. If he would tell Harry they would know that he’d been there, near the battlefield, with a nine-month pregnant tiny girl who had only moments before saved him from his own certain death. He had used the special wand she’d made for him, and he was still thankful for having survived.

His grey eyes drifted back to Harry who had his lips pressed in a thin line and looked pensive.

“That still doesn’t explain Resti-Resto-“ He was horrid with remembering names.

“Restituta.” Luna filled in for him, and he gratefully smiled at her help.

Harry continued: “She was born near the end of the war, if I’m not mistaken. You said only the oldest two are children of Snape.”

“Ah well,” Mr Secundinus replied, his eyes drifting across the room as he thought of a way to start explaining. “Restituta was born a few days after Snape ‘ad died. ‘e has never seen ‘er.”

“That’s not what I’m asking.” Harry cut him short. The man blinked at the auror and when he did not speak Harry sighed and clarified. “I’m saying that her birth implies that you were connected with Snape.”

Silence. Oh, Luna was grinning now because Harry was getting on a roll. And Harry in turn enjoyed seeing Luna from the corners of his eyes as she grinned pleasantly. He still hadn’t lost his talent of being victorious. He had this!

“I’m saying, Mr Secundinus,” And here he narrowed his eyes at the man, “that the evidence implies you’ve been closely connected to Snape for he received a wand from the girl he kept in his dungeon just before the battle. Yet she was already heavy with your child which means that nine months before the war you already had met and had slept with your now wife. And you know what that implies.” His eyes widened again and he cocked his head. “You were working for Lord Voldemort.”

The man tried to hide his panic, or so it seemed, and became increasingly uncomfortable. It made the challenge to continue all the better. Harry wanted to get to the bottom of this and he wanted to get to it now.

“Admit it, sir! You’ve been working for Lord Voldemort. I’d not be surprised if you raped the poor girl too. Did you know she was a minor still, hmm? Did you do it as another gift, huh?”

The small woman was once again in tears but this time Luna had sat down beside her and had wrapped her arms around her, effectively pulling her into a hug for comfort. She shushed Harry. “Calm down, please. These are not pleasant memories you stir.”

Harry huffed but was distracted by the reaction in front of him.

“I’d never ‘urt my wife.” Mr Secundinus whispered. His voice was hoarse and his eyes focused on something far away. “No more.”

Here Luna piped in. “I’ve seen interviews with survivors who worked for Voldemort. Especially the surviving snatchers were of interest. You see, after the war they had to make a list of survivors and of the dead. Many bodies were not found or were found beyond recognition. It was said that one Scabior led the snatchers onto the Covered Bridge and fell to his death. I’ve asked Professor Longbottom about this and he could recall duelling with a man with odd hair with a streak of red in it.” She deliberately let her eyes fly to the red streak in Mr Secundinus’ hair. Her point was made clear. The detail about the oddly coloured strand of hair was something she’d added herself. Neville couldn’t remember much more than having battled with a man and having sent that men and many others to their death that day. The red streak was mentioned in a file of the boy’s time at school, when he’d still been a teenager. He’d been pestered for having it which had been reported. Apparently it had been a big deal in Slytherin at the time. Luna had pieced two and two together after having heard his name mentioned by survivors and after seeing the red streak in his hair earlier this week. She now also knew why he would not come along with his wife whenever Neville wanted to speak to them. It figured.

“Admit it.” Harry pushed. And this time, Mr Secundinus yielded.

“Please, don’t jail me. The children need me. My wife needs me.” He begged, and only when Harry nodded in a form of temporary consent did he start to explain. “The Lord was kind to me. I could do what I always did well: Run. I pretended to be stupid so I wouldn’t get me a ‘igher position and risk my life more than necessary. It’s because of me my sister joined the Death Eaters. It’s because of they’re now all dead.”

“What did you do?” Luna asked silently.

Mr Secundinus looked at her. His hands never left the back of his wife, who was still held in Luna’s arms. “I joined the bad guys and wasn’t at ‘ome to protect my parents. This was during the first war. When the Lord returned ‘e called for me and ‘ad me lead a band of snatchers. I did not know my sister would be corrupted by ‘em. She was gorgeous she was. I don’t know what ‘appened to ‘er. Rumour says she died during the attack of ‘ogwarts, but I can never be sure.”

He hunched slightly and tucked a strand of his long brown hair behind his ear. His hand then slipped to the scarf he was wearing which he pulled down just enough for Harry to see the mark of Azkaban there. “I could not stop ‘er from joining ‘em.” He explained. His sister had joined them in between wars, when Scabior had been locked up.

“And then?” Harry urged, wiggling to the front of his seat. “The girl?”

“Right,” Mr Secundinus bobbed his head and bit his lip. “Here I was, snatching objects and people, making a living, trying not to be noticed when of all people I ‘ad to stumble upon the famous ‘Arry Potter.”

Harry jumped up from his chair. “You?” He cried out. “THAT was you? You tried to grope Hermione, you bastard!” He was about to batter the ex-snatcher when Luna jumped in between. Now Mrs Secundinus had come into action as well and shielded her husband.

“Let him talk.” Both Luna and Mrs Secundinus said. And Harry tried to compose himself and forced himself to sit down.

“Yes, that was me.” Scabior said, running a hand through his hair. “Ello ‘Arry. I’ve ‘eard Miss Beautiful is doing all right. Married the ginger. I could’ve known.”

Harry gritted his teeth menacingly.

“I’ll continue.” Scabior pulled his woman close and took a deep breath. He was much more nervous than he let the others see, but he was certain his wife could tell. Her presence comforted him.

“The Dark Lord noticed me. Even when you ‘ad escaped ‘e kept asking me to do important things. ‘e ‘ad me plunder muggle towns and kill even children.” He closed his eyes at the painful memories that flooded now. “I wanted to get out alive and thought of ways to defy ‘im. I sought for allies. I found one in Snape. ‘e trusted me and let me in. “ Harry huffed but Scabior continued nonetheless. “One day ‘e told me ‘e needed someone to look after ‘is girl after he was gone. ‘e knew ‘ow much I wanted ‘er. ‘e’d seen me looking at ‘er and ‘e trusted me to look after ‘er and the children if anything would ‘appen to him. With ‘im being often at ‘ogwarts, almost a year before ‘is death, we decided that she could stay with me. I protected ‘er and I still do.”

They were all silent again.

“So,” It was Harry who broke the silence after a while, “Sulpicius and Aurora are truly children of Professor Snape.”

They all nodded.

“And they were loved ever since they were born.” Mrs Secundinus smiled warmly and Harry could feel his heart melt. In the room next to them, Albus started to cry and Harry slowly got out of his seat.

“I have matters to attend to.” He curtly said, then smiled at the odd couple in front of him. “We will need to talk again about this, sometime. When you’re ready.” He gestured at Luna. “Give them something to drink, will you? This night has been very emotional for them.” Then he turned back to the parents. “Yes, Snape was a hero. It’s a good thing his legacy lives on. His children may be proud of him. The Ministry will hear nothing of this, Mr and Mrs ‘Secundinus’.”

“Secundinus for a second name. Second for second chance. Second for a second life.” Luna smiled at them while Harry left the room to shush his children. “A second life for all of us.”

 


End file.
